Kent County Council has refused to comment on allegations that five staff have been suspended from Ashford’s Milbank Centre following allegations of ‘inappropriate behaviour.’
The Kent County Council run centre houses up to 50 youngsters aged between 16 and 18 who have entered the country at the Port of Dover, without any parents.
The young asylum seekers, many of them from Iraq and Afghanistan, can spend up to three months at Millbank while their cases are assessed.
According to a report in a national newspaper, five people were suspended in June after a whistleblower reported staff cuddled and touched the young immigrants, and even took them home on occasion.
The allegations emerged after a text message was sent to one of the residents at the centre by a member of staff, asking to meet them outside.
Because his English was not good enough to read the message, he asked someone to translate it for him.
A source at the centre told the Sunday Express: “If the lad who got it had ¬spoken better English nobody would be any the wiser, but she wanted him to meet her outside the centre to take him home.”
The five members of staff involved in the latest allegations deny that they did anything wrong and none of the young people involved are still at the centre.
Last year Millbank was also in the news after a report by the Children’s Society criticised its involvement in a scheme designed to return asylum families back to their country origin.
The UK Borders Agency ended the £1m pilot, run in conjunction with the charity Migrant Helpline, after only one family volunteered to leave the country.
The project was an attempt to avoid young children of asylum seeker families having to spend time in detention centres by giving them access to support and education at local schools.
KCC would not confirm or deny the allegations, but a spokesperson said: “It is completely inappropriate for Kent County Council to publicly discuss any unproven allegations. KCC takes seriously its duty towards and operates to promote the best interests of all children and young people in its care.”
POSTED: 28/10/2009 06:00:00
Bookmark with:
Email to a friend: